Ebb system medium advice

[ligrow]

Hi guys,
just harvest 11 buckets ebb and grow system few days ago.
Its 7 liter bucket fill with hydroton.
Yesterday I tried to clean up hydroton, It took me 5 hours to get rid of roots.
Wonder how you guys clean your hydroton?
Also think about change medium. coco? rockwool?
I can simply throw away with above two medium right?
Is there any different that I should change my setup when use different medium.
Like PH range, EC levelm flood time?
I use rockwool for clone and transplant to ebb bucket fill with hydroton.
When I cleaned up buckets, rockwool look kind of nasty for me.
Not sure if its a good idea to use straight rockwool.
coco I dont have any experience with it.
Im all doing it myself, looking for good medium with less work...

Any feedback or advice would be really appreciate.
happy grow

 

[Airwalker16]

Hi guys,
just harvest 11 buckets ebb and grow system few days ago.
Its 7 liter bucket fill with hydroton.
Yesterday I tried to clean up hydroton, It took me 5 hours to get rid of roots.
Wonder how you guys clean your hydroton?
Also think about change medium. coco? rockwool?
I can simply throw away with above two medium right?
Is there any different that I should change my setup when use different medium.
Like PH range, EC levelm flood time?
I use rockwool for clone and transplant to ebb bucket fill with hydroton.
When I cleaned up buckets, rockwool look kind of nasty for me.
Not sure if its a good idea to use straight rockwool.
coco I dont have any experience with it.
Im all doing it myself, looking for good medium with less work...

Any feedback or advice would be really appreciate.
happy grow

Use rapid rooters plugs. They work great.

 

[ligrow]

Use rapid rooters plugs. They work great.

Can I use rapid rooter plug for whole bucket or just for rooting clone? not sure if I can find it at local shop tho.

Ill tell you how to clean up hydroton.

Soak it in cheap un scented supermarket bleach 50% water 50/ bleach for 3 days, those roots become liquid. triple rinse while stirring the hydroton with a hose and water.

flood once with water or nutrients on your table before planting in your ebb and flow or flood and drain system.

rock wool is the worst medium you can use in horticulture cannabis growing unless you have a NFT hydro system even then its shit , dont use rock wool at all for anything , it holds fuck all oxygen and its ph is too high naturally, even if pre treated by the factory raises ph....

if you have to root clones ffs use perlite, pumice sand, or sphagnum moss or ez cloner.

rapid rooters i.e peat.. if your hell bent on oxygen starved mediums that do work ok.

Thanks for the tip! This do help a lot. my question is do I really need that much bleach for roots to become liquid?
I thought I have to clean up all the dead roots between runs. Isnt dead root cause problem?
anyway, Im not using flood table. Its a bucket system. Roots was really messy at to bottom. I dont think I can have another run without clean up hydroton.

Now Im using Jeffy for clones. DWC for early veg.
Jeffy dont get nasty like rockwool does...

 

[rkymtnman]

check out growstones. hold the most water and air of any medium. fairly easy to clean: i just let them dry outside and the roots come off pretty easy with a hot water rinse.

 

[ligrow]

check out growstones. hold the most water and air of any medium. fairly easy to clean: i just let them dry outside and the roots come off pretty easy with a hot water rinse.

sounds good! I will check if I can find some at local store. cleaning hydroton its the hardest job in whole grow lol...

 

[ligrow]

too bad I can not find any growstones at local store...

 

[Budley Doright]

sounds good! I will check if I can find some at local store. cleaning hydroton its the hardest job in whole grow lol...

Soaking in bleach works to break down the roots then I throw them in a 5 gallon pail with 1/4 mesh bottom and rinse well with my pressure washer or in winter take it to car wash. I run the system for a day with bleach or preferably H2O2 (got a bunch cheap) then refill and getter done . I do suspended net pots so less than your deal .

 

[dyna mo humm]

I use a 8"-10" net pot, fill it about 1/4-1/3 of the way up, then just rinse water through. You need to kinda swish them around so you get all the debris off, that's why only fill part way. I do it either in utility sink or use hose outside. Be careful if using utility sink because those roots are pretty tough and can wreck a pump or clog a drain pretty good. Get a nice steel mesh strainer for the sink drain and you won't have any problems. They sell them at most hardware stores.

I reuse hydroton at LEAST 2-3 times before getting rid of it. You can also soak the hydroton in a 10% bleach or H2O2 bath after rinsing it good to help extend the life of it. That will help to keep any nasties at bay.

First post here, lol.... hope it helps
Good luck

 

[dyna mo humm]

IME them growstones don't support the plant as good as hydroton does, just my .02

 

[Budley Doright]

I use a 8"-10" net pot, fill it about 1/4-1/3 of the way up, then just rinse water through. You need to kinda swish them around so you get all the debris off, that's why only fill part way. I do it either in utility sink or use hose outside. Be careful if using utility sink because those roots are pretty tough and can wreck a pump or clog a drain pretty good. Get a nice steel mesh strainer for the sink drain and you won't have any problems. They sell them at most hardware stores.

I reuse hydroton at LEAST 2-3 times before getting rid of it. You can also soak the hydroton in a 10% bleach or H2O2 bath after rinsing it good to help extend the life of it. That will help to keep any nasties at bay.

First post here, lol.... hope it helps
Good luck

I've used the same stuff for like 10 years lol. Bought a huge bag of it and still haven't touched it since I filled my first pots lol.

 

[ligrow]

Thanks for all you guys feedback here.
I will tried to clean it the way you guys advise here.
Im sure it will make the work way easier like I did last time.
wash it once a month should still be so hard work...

 

[PetFlora]

Polished river rock for the win. I use 3" net pots throughout, simply transfer them to larger tote once they have sufficient roots. Easy to remove and clean after each grow, then reuse forever

 

[ligrow]

Polished river rock for the win. I use 3" net pots throughout, simply transfer them to larger tote once they have sufficient roots. Easy to remove and clean after each grow, then reuse forever

Nice man! I had add some to my system before. But holy shit super heavy to move.
Sure it is easy to clean tho

 

[dyna mo humm]

I tried gravel/washed stone before as well. I went back to hydroton

 

[ligrow]

I tried gravel/washed stone before as well. I went back to hydroton

Seems like hydroton its still the one...Nightmare never end

 

[dyna mo humm]

Seems like hydroton its still the one...Nightmare never end

It's not as bad as that. Once you get the 'swish' thing down it goes quick. Kind of similar motion as them guys panning for gold. I can wash a 5 gallon bucket in about 15-20 minutes using the 10" net pot as a sieve.

Also, here is another thing I didn't think about until just now. I have LOTS of 'extra' hydroton so I don't have to immediately wash and reuse it. So with "fresh" roots my technique might suck.

This is how I've found works best for me, there might be better ways or other ways but this has worked for a number of years. After I harvest, I take the net pot out and rip off all the roots on the outside of the pot. I then hold the net pot over a tote, grab the stem and take the root ball out of the pot. Then bang the root ball against the sides of the tote to knock all the hydroton off. You'll have to get in there with your fingers to get it all or you'll loose some every cycle. Dispose of the stem and root mass, then I let the hydroton dry out. I run perpetual so it will sit about a week or so. I pick out any large roots, then do the wash technique previously described. I don't have the sink blasting water, just turned on enough so I get a nice steady flow coming out from under the net pot. The water from the sink running is what will carry/flush all the little root pcs out the bottom of the net pot.

I also like to 'pH' it before I reuse it. I know I use just under 5 gallons every cycle. So the night before I transplant I fill a bucket with hydroton then pour plain RO that's been pH'ed to 5.6-5.8 into the bucket and let it sit overnight.

 

[Keesje]

You can use smaller buckets/potts (instead of the 7 liter), thus less hydroton.
The roots don't need the hydroton.
As long as they have space in the bigger buckets, they can develop.
And as long as you find a way to keep your plants upright.

 

[Budley Doright]

^^^^what he said lol. I used 3" last run and they were a bit small only because they let light through and should have covered them with something. I use 6" for the most part and the plants stand up just fine lol.

 

[Keesje]

On this same forum is there is a famous post by StinkBud.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/harvest-a-pound-every-three-weeks.116859/
He uses an aeroponics system.
But in the end that is not that much of a difference (concerning roots/water/O2 I mean)

He uses small 2 inch netpots, neoprene inserts and that's it.
He makes clones this way and when they grow bigger, he puts netpot+neoprene+plant in his system.
The roots just hang in the air. No hydroton or any other medium.
His plants stay upright because the roots are 'pulling' on the plant.
And he has a system with bars which support his plants.

 

[Thundercat]

I like the growstones the best, I got my local shop to start carrying them just for me ! They don't roll around. The stink bud system is great. I'm working on an idea for a rock washing system. Something small enough that any home grower could buy one but sturdy enough to clean your rocks way faster and easier then by hand. I hate washing rocks. Its the only part of hydro growing that I dislike. I also think that if the rocks could be washed well they would last for years which = less waste .