moving Scotch over to a dutch bucket (1st week update!!!)

[Al-from-Chile]

Hi there,
 
I just wanted to show a few pics about moving a Scotch Bonnet joungster over from soil to a dutch bucket.
 
first of all - what is a dutch bucket?
 

 
 
I guess its fairly evident ... basically its a bucket with a spout just a few inches above the bottom ... its used for flood-and-drain hydroponics. Normally those would be watered a couple of times a day for a couple of minutes (e.g. 3 x 5min) and they all drain into a common rail that delivers the nutrient solution back to the reservoir where the pump sits. 
 
In theory, the roots get the best of both words - all the nutes they need and all the oxigen for 23+ hours per day ...
 
 
I have no particular reason to transplant the "Bon Scott" other than my curiosity - the good thing is I have a comparable sister plant in soil - so I will benchmark/update the progress of both.
 
 
here a pic of our traveller ... I was impressed with the root-system of the plant... not bad for sitting in a conventional 1 quart pot ... the root system looks more like plant in air-pruning pots I have seen before ...
 
I use myco, worm-castings, seabird-guano and AACT and I think this is the reason for the healty root life. No synth. fert's have been used on this plant until now.
 

 
'nother angle
 

 
I carefully got the soil out of the root system (was not too tricky, as I had good, fluffy soil)... here you see the "wet poodle" pic 
 

 
I parked the plant for maybe 20 mins in a myco/molasses solution to get any possible inoculation going ... (have no idea if it worked, especially if you can get myco going in hydro, but then again it was no real expense involved)
 
here's the pic with the solution
 

 
 
 
finally I moved the plant over .... my setup of the bucket is a "wally-bag" with perlite within the bucket, which serves both as:
 
- primary container
- airpruning pot
- filter (avoiding getting perlite flowing around in the whole system and clogging up stuff)
 

 
my system is pretty "ghetto", as I currently flood-and-drain manually with another bucket (pouring and recovering the solution).
 
once the system proves being worth the time/$$$ - I will move up to a more automated pumping and plumbing system ... 
 
cheers,
Al
 
ps: forgot to take a pic of the plant in the bucket - I will do that tomorrow, together with the "benchmark sister"

 

[ms1476]

Great roots. Very healthy. I would love to see more pics in a month or two. It looks like it will do well, as it certainly has a good foundation to start with. Please keep us updated.

 

[Fremp]

I really like the solution idea! Can't wait to see your results,and try it out myself!
Awesome setup!

 

[Al-from-Chile]

ok, update ...
 
 
here's my friend Bon Scott "the morning after" ... no probs/shock whatsoever ... green, fresh and perky ... just like a whole lotta rosie
 

 
 
 
I took him out and gave him a good drink (Scott's ever-so-thirsty) ... here you can see my outfit ... when I water, I plug the faucet with a 2009 Merlot cork and let the solution sit for 5 or so mins ... to wick up in the perlite and keep the upper roots ferted as well ...
 

 
 
 
note that I spray-painted the buckets in clingon-battleship-silver ... this should help with:
 
- getting the root system too hot in summer (we have currently winter here - but that can change any month)
- avoids light getting in the bucket and growing algae that might clog up everything
- keep Mr. Spock out of my peppers 
 
seems to work pretty good ... here is a pic of the same bucket where you can clearly see the difference between the clingon-painted sidewalls and the non painted bottom of the bucket ... if you look close enough, you can see the shadows of the two death-stars and their radiation
 

 
 
 
ohhh ... and here the pic with the sister plant which we will monitor weekly as a benchmark
 

 
 
any Q's¿, well - just holler,
 
Al

 

[Jeff H]

Looking great Al, I just hope the kind folks from Amsterdam take kindly to a Scots man living in one of their buckets.

 

[TXCG]

Al, I'm excited to watch how your "ghetto" dutch bucket works out for you. I know my plants went crazy in my dutch bucket system indoors, I've always wanted to try one outdoors. If you're planning on leaving it out you may want some sort of cover for your pot to keep rain out. Also if you have a spare air pump you should aerate your nutrient solution before flooding your bucket. 
 

The scotch bonnet in the soil doesn't stand a chance!

 

[peppernovice]

  Impressive study you have going there. Thanks for putting the work in and sharing your results. I'll be interested to see how this plant stacks up to the one in a more conventional set up. Congrats on having both plants healthy and beautiful looking at this stage in their development.
 
Tim

 

[Al-from-Chile]

Al, I'm excited to watch how your "ghetto" dutch bucket works out for you. I know my plants went crazy in my dutch bucket system indoors, I've always wanted to try one outdoors. If you're planning on leaving it out you may want some sort of cover for your pot to keep rain out. Also if you have a spare air pump you should aerate your nutrient solution before flooding your bucket. 
 

The scotch bonnet in the soil doesn't stand a chance!

Thx on the tips - the lid is considered, but the air pump aspect wasn't... I have 1 from the aact rig that I will use

Cheers, Al

 

[TXCG]

Thx on the tips - the lid is considered, but the air pump aspect wasn't... I have 1 from the aact rig that I will use

Cheers, Al

 
Since dutch buckets hold water in the bottom you want it to be good & aerated going in. Have to figure out how often you need to flood the bucket to refresh the water, I was able to get away with running my pump 2x a day for 15 min each time. Probably didn't need 15 min but the pumps that did smaller intervals were expensive!

 

[Al-from-Chile]

 
Since dutch buckets hold water in the bottom you want it to be good & aerated going in. Have to figure out how often you need to flood the bucket to refresh the water, I was able to get away with running my pump 2x a day for 15 min each time. Probably didn't need 15 min but the pumps that did smaller intervals were expensive!

 
I did some reading on how often to water per day ... no clear answer neither her nor on the canna boards ... but I figured out that it depends mostly on your growing medium ...
 
- using a rockwool cube - highly absorbent... you get away with 1 time per day or even every other day
- using leca marbles (hydrotone) which do not absorb much water... probably 3-4 x day
 
- using perlite (which traps some water in between the granules, just like very coarse sand on the beach) ... somewhere in the middle ... so I give them a good watering in the morning, and another around 3pm ... and leave the outlet plugged for some 5 min. The water goes up around 3/4 the height of the bucket and should wick up even further - 
 
 
I hear you on the oxigenited water sitting in the bottom, but I am not too worried that it would go stale, as the perlite-granules as such also hold a good amount of air - but cant hurt to aeriate for a couple of mins before watering, esp. if I have the hardware to do so
 
thx, Al

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

You seem to have gone high-tech in Chile since my last visit. Awesome looking plant and best of luck. Which part are you located in by chance? I traveled and surfed from Pichilemu to Arica many moons ago...

 

[Al-from-Chile]

You seem to have gone high-tech in Chile since my last visit. Awesome looking plant and best of luck. Which part are you located in by chance? I traveled and surfed from Pichilemu to Arica many moons ago...

Very cool, then I imagine you remember "punta de lobos" quite well... I stayed there often with friends, but again that's 10 years and 3 children ago

Do you recall the hotel "chile-españa", eating "donde la gloria"? - truly fond memories.

I am in Santiago, in a sector up the Andes, which is still agricultural within the city

Saludos, Al

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

I stayed at hotel "chile-españa" for 3 weeks roughly, surfed the wolves quite often and ate everywhere I could at the time but we are talking back in 1995 before most people traveled there to surf. I have amazing memories and loved being followed around the country by girl paparazzis! Apparently the guy I was with was normal for the most part due to blue hair and blue eyes but dark hair and green eyes was not common. We had a blast, met many great people along the way and got wasted with the military more than once.

 

[Jeff H]

 
I did some reading on how often to water per day ... no clear answer neither her nor on the canna boards ... but I figured out that it depends mostly on your growing medium ...
 
- using a rockwool cube - highly absorbent... you get away with 1 time per day or even every other day
- using leca marbles (hydrotone) which do not absorb much water... probably 3-4 x day
 
- using perlite (which traps some water in between the granules, just like very coarse sand on the beach) ... somewhere in the middle ... so I give them a good watering in the morning, and another around 3pm ... and leave the outlet plugged for some 5 min. The water goes up around 3/4 the height of the bucket and should wick up even further - 
 
 
I hear you on the oxigenited water sitting in the bottom, but I am not too worried that it would go stale, as the perlite-granules as such also hold a good amount of air - but cant hurt to aeriate for a couple of mins before watering, esp. if I have the hardware to do so
 
thx, Al

I wouldn't plug the hole, It is just one more step. What you want is it fully automated or it gets to be a real pain in the butt to maintain.
 
 
This guy has some experience with perlite. Check out the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXy32Dr4Z4A

 

[TXCG]

Al, I tried straight leca clay with drip emitters on top but it didn't have enough capillary action to really wet the whole pot. I ended up mixing it about 70:30 Leca:coco coir, with just enough coco to fill in all the space between the leca & provide enough wicking to soak the whole pot. Perlite is a lot finer than the leca so you're right you should be fine on the wicking action with it.
 


 

 

[Al-from-Chile]

I wouldn't plug the hole, It is just one more step. What you want is it fully automated or it gets to be a real pain in the butt to maintain.
 
 
This guy has some experience with perlite. Check out the video.

 
I just plug the faucet temporarily, because I use the same container to water and reclaim the solution ... and the first time I did it, I got a puddle on the floor as the water drained out faster than I could end watering - wife gave me the eye...  
 
I just let the cork in a couple of min's to get the container below the bucket to drain back
 
 
It will be removed completely once I got the return-drainage pipe going (which might be a couple of weeks out - as we still get freezing in the early morning - so I need to move the (heavy) buckets in and out ... basically I am doing a proof-of-concept thingy with a single scotch guinnea pig
 
Once spring comes, I will scale up my system and "do-it-right" 
 
cheers, Al
 
 
ps: and i wholeheartedly agree, this guys (mhpgardner or so) videos rock ... he might be one of the best resources on yt

 

[PepperDaddler]

The side by side will be interesting to follow.

 

[GnomeGrown]

I've watched a few of that guys videos on youtube, AL

 

[Jeff H]

I've watched a few of that guys videos on youtube, AL

 
 
They are inspiring to say the least. I changed his ideas slightly to the material I had on hand and came up with a similar set up, but I'm using hydroton not perlite.
 
 

 

[jdcooper]

Jeff H, do you have a thread showing your setup? It looks fabulous.