hot ladies in ebb and flow

[johnq]

sorry about the title, have trouble getting responses.

New to ebb and flow, heres what I have set up. Currently running 8inch pots (small painters' buckets), holes cut out the bottom. Hydroton. 3 15min water cycles a day. My main concerns are that the Top pebbles never seem to get wet and I'm worried that the moisture doesnt just wick up the pebbles as i expected it to. Also a main concern is to be able to move the plants around. Im open to hear any of your methods or suggestions. My system is not working so hot right now so i would like to hear about mediums, buckets, and water cycles that have worked out for you guys. Thanks.

 

[gforce420]

Can you do pics? You say top pebs don't get wet.... well how close does the water level get to them? Is it because your flood fitting is too low or you filled your medium up too far above the flood valve (same thing really)

I mean if the water level is reaching your flood fitting level then everything is working fine & you should have just not filled your pellets up so high so that your plants would be lower. Or it could be that your pump is not filling the grow tub up in the 15 minutes & is cutting off b4 it gets hi enuf to reach the flood level. If that's the case then you need to either get a pump that can pump more volume or else make your flood cycles longer, like say 30 mins to let your pump get the grow arean completely full & up to flood level long enough to feed all the roots.

So can ya post some pics or give some more specific details? good luck

 

[johnq]

yeah, ill get some pics up asap

 

[NewGrowth]

Are you using hydroton with rockwool cubes? How big are your plants? For hydroton with the 2" rockwool cubes I flood once every two hours up to 1/2" below the cubes. I never flood right before lights out or when the lights are off. What specific problems are you having?

 

[johnq]

lights are on 24 hours, 1000hps. have maybe 20 plants, lol, not sure havent counted. Im using those black rooter plugs. 3x3 table. Plants seem very stuntet and unhealthy. Ill get some pics in 30 mins or so.

 

[johnq]

how long will the hydroton hold water?

 

[johnq]

here are some pictures, thanks for the help everyone.

Marijuana Growing - johnq's Album: e n f

 

[johnq]

ppm=500 floranova grow ph=5.6

changed water cycle to 5 times/day

 

[NewGrowth]

Are you using H202 in your rez? You need to adjust your Ph to 5.8. With your set up you should be able to flood every two hours. If your plants are wilting in between flood cycles it is a sure sign that they need more water. Make sure the water is entering the pots through the holes in the bottom it is sometimes helpful to drilla couple holes in the sides of the pots near the bottom too. Hydroton does not hold any water for very long that is why it can be flooded more often. The water level should never come to the top of the pots but just a 1/2" or so below the bottom of the rapid rooter cubes.

 

[johnq]

h2o2 every 3rd day. Water is entering the pots, i have a few with the same holes set aside without plants filled with hydroton to be sure. I will increase the water cycles again and see if that helps. Thanks again. +rep newgrowth appreciate your help

 

[Yota]

In that set up you don't need the water to come all the way to the top. I use coco in the ebb system myself and like it. Your set up looks fine to me. A reason i like coco is because it holds more moisture, so it only needs like 1 watering a day.

I see your concern a bit, the cubes seem high, so maybe just a day or 2 of watering from the top would be sufficient.

 

[gvega187]

In that set up you don't need the water to come all the way to the top. I use coco in the ebb system myself and like it. Your set up looks fine to me. A reason i like coco is because it holds more moisture, so it only needs like 1 watering a day.

I see your concern a bit, the cubes seem high, so maybe just a day or 2 of watering from the top would be sufficient.

I agree that the plants look either over watered or under watered. I believe John said that these plants have been in the system for more than a few days now.

Since at least some of the plants are growing we can assume it is not underwatering?

The plants that ARE growing appear to exibit the same leaf wilt as the rest.

What do u guys think?

I would also like to know how often you can flood young plants in pebbles.

 

[Yota]

it's possible they could be over watered if they are wilting. I don't know enough about growing in pebbles to give you good advice unfortunately.

 

[gforce420]

Is that the high water mark of the flood in your first 3 pics? If you don't have really well developed roots then I could see that not being hi enuf. May rig your flood valve to get the water level up another inch. Just a thought.

 

[johnq]

Yes, the first picture is how high the water gets.

gvega - they have been in their imbarrasingly long, not sure i want to publicly humiliate myself, but its been at least a week

thanks for all the help, seems that adding water cycles has helped already. Ill keep you updated on any other changes and results.

-jq

 

[NewGrowth]

Yes, the first picture is how high the water gets.

gvega - they have been in their imbarrasingly long, not sure i want to publicly humiliate myself, but its been at least a week

thanks for all the help, seems that adding water cycles has helped already. Ill keep you updated on any other changes and results.

-jq

Glad to hear it john! The benefit of hydroton is you can flood more often and allow for a more oxygenated root zone increasing vigor. The drawback is it does not hold much water so if your pumps fail the plants could die. I saw another post about using coco in a ebb and flow. I would not advise this as coco is an organic medium so H202 can not be used effectively and it tends to break up and clog your pumps.

 

[gvega187]

does anyone use rapid rooter starter plugs here other than john and I?

I am wondering if you can flood closer to the plugs with these as opposed to rockwhool.

Are most flood tables about 4-5 inches tall?

If your flood level is 3-3.5 inches do the roots really have enough space to grow?

John q, nice tags on this thread btw lol.

 

[johnq]

my tables are 36x36x7. good question on the roots, anyone?

 

[NewGrowth]

does anyone use rapid rooter starter plugs here other than john and I?

I am wondering if you can flood closer to the plugs with these as opposed to rockwhool.

Are most flood tables about 4-5 inches tall?

If your flood level is 3-3.5 inches do the roots really have enough space to grow?

John q, nice tags on this thread btw lol.

You just want to moisten the cube NOT saturate them. This will encourage the roots to seek out water in the hydroton and help prevent root rot in small plants. It may be advisable to hand water the cube for a bit if your plants are really small. Your roots have plenty of space to grow, one of the benefits of hydroponics is the root mass can be smaller because oxygen, nutrients,and water are more readily available and as a result uptake is more efficient. Flood tables are not good for VERY large plants however.

 

[gvega187]

interesting new growth, so what minimum root space would you suggest for flood-drain. I have read about 3L min.

john q, how r your plants doing lately? Any new growth?