Hey Majing you talking to me or Budsturbation if it's me i will be trying the 100% perlite next time for sure about that though do you have yours set up with automatic feed or anything because I started to try but after washing it I didn't think the stuff would supply enough moisture to the plants
Either lol.
Holds moisture quite well, The 3 in that room water once a week with full feed.
Check them daily since the DWC needs to be topped up daily, Only one iv had to give a little bit more water too and just did a quick bottom watering (Fill up a dish with water and let it sit in it for 3 mins) the perlite wicks it up, Thats what makes it ideal for hempty grows.
But they are quite small this grow since the DWC ones took up all the space. When Iv had larger plants in the same pots 6L, It got down to watering every 3-4 days, To which id full feed one time then bottom feed plain water 2nd time. Then flush every 4th time.
This probably be my last time with perlite outside of using it for cloning since ill be going 3x R-DWC with 1 big res and sticking to only 4 weeks veg since 6 weeks is way too much.
What wattage are your LED's that's pretty nice!!!
4X 50W | Cree 3070 (used for veg and first 2 weeks of flower)
1X 257W | Citi 058-1825 (Just switched it on last weekend when flowers start to show)
The 1 citi led is water cooled, Whole rooms will soon be converted to water cooling so in summer I can mount the radiator outside the room.
In the winter leave it inside the room.
Im definitely considering it. I dont think ill be able to fit as many plants into my room, but if they grow bigger in perlite then it probably won't matter. One thing im also concerned about is rootzone temps. it's fairly cold outside, sometimes the temps in my growbox are getting down to 4 degrees. Eventually im not going to be able to keep things above freezing. I feel like soil would be a better insulator than perlite and could help keep the roots at a better temperature during the colder months that I grow.
Then again soil seems to be a better environment for insects to inhabit. However I've seen some people post grow journals using perlite that also had issues with infestation. I've got a few months to think on it but im pretty sure im gonna give it a try.
Not sure about how it would deal with temps, But if its holding less moisture it shouldn't get as cold.
If I was having issues with temps getting down to 4C id be throwing a little oil heater into the room and leave it set on 19C
About the only infestation you should be worrying about is spider mites, Which come from your grow space or already infested clones, Since nothing will be able to live in the perlite and it comes 100% sterile compare to dirt which comes with what ever in it.
