# Ppk



## DrFever (Aug 26, 2014)

I have been pondering     doing something like this  for a little  while     think its time to actually    get off my you know what and make me  couple of these   to my understanding  growth rates and yields are just  incredible 

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## DrFever (Aug 26, 2014)

PPK Theory
Introducing &#8220;Hydraulic Redistribution&#8221;.
In the beginning of this thread with plant or ppk #1, I maintained a strict &#8220;no top watering&#8221; policy after
the first two weeks and I grew a decent plant. It produced 7 1/8 oz of dry bud. I guess I just wanted to
see if I could do it with this new device. With each successive plant, however, I began top watering
various amounts and frequencies to see if it would have a profound effect upon growth. What I found was
that a small amount of top watering produced a better plant. The first plant had the lowest yield of any
ppk to date. All subsequent plants have yielded more. What I found was that a very small amount of
water applied several times a week to the top of the medium improved growth. I am not talking about
enough water to supply the plant, but just enough to moisten the top. The plants were still getting the
bulk (90% plus) of their water from sub-irrigation.
I had no clear explanation of why this was occurring, only that it was. I also wondered about the necessity
of continuing this practice throughout the life of the plant. I have continued it to date at all stages of
growth just because I didn't understand the mechanism.
I now think I know why and for how long.


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## DrFever (Aug 26, 2014)

so in reality  there are  3 res's  The lower bucket acts as a res for each individual plant. There is also a main res that is drawn off of to feed the pulse feeding flow of nutes. He uses one more res to keep the main res topped off with by a float valve.

So three types of res's. A main res a top off res and a individual plant res.
 and what is   great about this style  as we will get into  is there is never  root disease ,   gnats or other  issues  

Basically it is a large shallow pot placed upon a collection bucket. The pot has turface in it. The turface is so that you do not get fungas nats and what not. It last pretty much for ever. It is expensive depending on where you live because of trucking. You can run any wicking type media that has about 30% air pourosity.

The upper pot has wicks that drop down into the lower collection pot. This is to help if your pump goes down and to set the height of the perched water table. The lower pot drains back into your main res. This is just pumped back to the plants on a timer. A key point here is the level of the water in the collection bucket. You want the perched water table to be at the very bottom of the upper pot. You will have to play with the height till you find the sweet spot for your media to get the perched water table at the correct spot. 

They use a weak nut mix and don't worry about the flush. It is generally about 1.0-1.1 EC. Most use Jacks 5-12-26 and calcium nitrate.

Basically the PPK is about getting the media at the perfect balance. Which means getting the perched water table low enough to not stunt the plants from a to wet of a media. Complete air exchange in the media by flooding the media when you water in one big watering to fill all the voids with the nute mixed water. Watering several times a day to bring in fresh air and balance the media's PH and nute balance. 

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## DrFever (Aug 28, 2014)

WOW  not to many reply's  hahaha owe well  here are  some pics    of some  growers that grow   PPK  style   stupid fast growth  and  real stupid   yields  recorded  per plant 
 just in process of  making mine   100 gallon   totes   will post pictures   once done making them 

 Only down fall is   from what i am told is  its gets boring watching them grow as  its  stupid easy 

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## yooper420 (Sep 6, 2014)

Looks like you got it dialed in. You`re over my head with this, but I grow in soil. My last grow, and this one, only get watered from the bottom. Do give them an occasional small drink from the topside. Keeps the top couple inches of soil dry, which is supposed to eliminate soil knats. Can`t say if it works or not, as I`ve never had a bug in my grow room. On my 6th grow in 3 years.


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## DrFever (Sep 7, 2014)

It's a flood/drain system combined with a wick fed system. The two work synergistically to create an ideal root zone environment. The flood/drain part of the system insures that not only is the nutrient solution in the root zone regularly refreshed (preventing salt build up and deficiency), but also that high levels of oxygen are maintained. No different from any other flood/drain system. However the drain portion of the flood/drain setup on a ppk has two functions. One obviously to act as a drain for the flood cycle, but it also acts as a wick. Often referred to as the "tailpiece". The wicks primary function in the ppk, is to remove the perched water table (PWT) that would otherwise be generated after each flood cycle. By removing the PWT you end up with much more of the root zone in the ideal oxygen range. This in turn simulates greater root growth from your plants, resulting in faster vegging, and ultimately larger yields . So technically the ppk is hybrid between a flood/drain and wick hydro systems . 

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## DrFever (Sep 7, 2014)

tricked out manifolds   Throw in auto topping off by using a bulk res to keep the same level of water connected to a ro float valve in the control res, (res that holds the pump, and where the return drains from under each planter come back to) 
 Pretty slick really once you  get   everything dialed in  then you  just sit there and watch her run till u gotta fill the bulk res again. The bigger the bulk res the longer u go on vacation 

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## yooper420 (Sep 7, 2014)

DrFever,
You da man. Outstanding looking grow rooms.


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## JustAnotherAntMarching (Sep 17, 2014)

no one here cares about any of your threads here bc your such a cocky arrogant   (edit)..... JMO


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