600w Flood and drain

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kittykittylicklick

New Member
Hey everybody.
So this is going to be my second grow, started with perlite hempys. So I have a 600 w my and hps, 2x3 flood tray filled with hydroton. I'm going to be running 6 plants from seed in 1.5" roockwool cubes and netpots, I see most people keep their flood and drain In pots in the tray, but I want to grow in the tray itself for max room for roots. Other than not being able to move my plants is there any downside to growing directly in the tray? Thanks for any advice and help. Also if anyone had run a similar set up I'd love to hear about your experiences. Thanks again!
 

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K

kittykittylicklick

New Member
jijiandfarmgang said:
More to clean, more hydroton to taint your water. Some people just cover the entire tray with panda paper.

- Jiji
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Lol Yea learned that one the hard way. Spent all day yesterday cleaning and prepping. Took about an hour to wash all that hydroton. I think I'll just flush some water thru a few times to get any reminance. Still have a few more days until my snow white seeds arrive from nirvana :hump: would the panda paper just help keep light away from roots?
 
jijiandfarmgang

jijiandfarmgang

Well-Known Member
Yeah, one of the moderators grew that way, cant remember his name. Basically the light prunes the roots, and if you cover everything with panda paper, the roots will mat the whole tray. I've never tried it. The mod ended up flooding quite a bit because root zone temps got pretty high, he claimed slightly over 1 gpw.

To be honest I've never grown either way. Maybe next time you can try the panda paper way.

- Jiji
 
H

Heavy Consumer

Well-Known Member
Subbed in and looking to learn. Good luck with your grow! If you set up a grow journal, please update this thread with the link.
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
i used a 4x4 ebb n flow table for 7 years, tried hydroton the way your doing it, to much work, and yields were no diferent.. best way i found was 4x4 rockwool cubes, 20-25 in the 4x4 tub. i covered the tray with a 4x4 cut piece of 1/4 inch plywood painted white with 25 4inch square holes so i could turn the plants and plastic cube covers over each hole in the plywood..i ran nirvanas misty strain that way for almost 5 years, yields were exelent, and clean up was a breez..the only advantage of hydroton is its reusable, but i dont think its worth the clean up time..go w/ 4 inch rockwool and build your own cover that will alow you to turn or move your plants around, just my opinion..like i said i did it the way u are and it worked, but clean up sucked and unless u want to spend hours picking the rock out from all the roots, you will probably end up throwing half of it away anyways..hope it goes well, please let me know how it works for u or if u switch to rockwool(i think it would be better).


P.S. if growing the eay you have it w/ hydroton, best way to clean, to reuse the hydroton. i built a small square w/ 2x2 wood into a frame shape and stapled 1/4 inch screen onto it, u can put the rockw/roots on the screen and shake it back and forth, you will lose some of the smaller pebbles but its much easyer than trying to get all the roots out of the hydroton, hope this helps.
 
K

kittykittylicklick

New Member
TheChemist77 said:
i used a 4x4 ebb n flow table for 7 years, tried hydroton the way your doing it, to much work, and yields were no diferent.. best way i found was 4x4 rockwool cubes, 20-25 in the 4x4 tub. i covered the tray with a 4x4 cut piece of 1/4 inch plywood painted white with 25 4inch square holes so i could turn the plants and plastic cube covers over each hole in the plywood..i ran nirvanas misty strain that way for almost 5 years, yields were exelent, and clean up was a breez..the only advantage of hydroton is its reusable, but i dont think its worth the clean up time..go w/ 4 inch rockwool and build your own cover that will alow you to turn or move your plants around, just my opinion..like i said i did it the way u are and it worked, but clean up sucked and unless u want to spend hours picking the rock out from all the roots, you will probably end up throwing half of it away anyways..hope it goes well, please let me know how it works for u or if u switch to rockwool(i think it would be better).


P.S. if growing the eay you have it w/ hydroton, best way to clean, to reuse the hydroton. i built a small square w/ 2x2 wood into a frame shape and stapled 1/4 inch screen onto it, u can put the rockw/roots on the screen and shake it back and forth, you will lose some of the smaller pebbles but its much easyer than trying to get all the roots out of the hydroton, hope this helps.
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Yea I was thinking rockwool blocks too. But they aren't pH neutral and I heard a lot about over watering and root rot. I'd rather feel safe flooding 3 or even 4 times a day with hydroton than worry about if my rockwool is too moist and getting enough air. But I'm still a noob (especial with rockwool lol) ajf got lots to learn. Thanks chemist 77 :bigjoint:
 
TheChemist77

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
kittykittylicklick said:
Yea I was thinking rockwool blocks too. But they aren't pH neutral and I heard a lot about over watering and root rot. I'd rather feel safe flooding 3 or even 4 times a day with hydroton than worry about if my rockwool is too moist and getting enough air. But I'm still a noob (especial with rockwool lol) ajf got lots to learn. Thanks chemist 77 :bigjoint:
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been using rockwool for many years never got rot,, you can flood and drain 2 times a day for 15b minuits, more or less. rockwool cant get to wet , it soaks up what it needs and always supllies air to the roots, so u really cant over water, just dont let them dry out!! and as for ph. soak the cubes in 5.5 ph for 15 minutes then water them w/ a ph of 5.5-6.3 just dont go over 6.3.. if you use general hydroponics nutrients, you really dont even need ph up or down, in il. and mi, the recomended does of gh nutes w/ tap water ends up at 5.8 every time and stays there till i need to add water or change the res. very simple, never a problem.. actually i found my ph fluctuated more in hydroton as it has no buffer..so for a nooby, rockwool my treat u better..
 
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