EXPERIENCED SOG'ERS NEEDED

What up RIU! Let me first start by saying, Ive been a long time dedicated reader for many many years. Learnt alot and now decided to join the community to further my knowledge on this journey and hopefully get a chance to help some fellow growers as well!

Now, im making the switch to hydro, I THINK lol. Need some help getting my plan finalized.

My set up consists of

2 4x8x6.8 tents

2 digi air cooled 600s per tent

2 4x8 tables, 1 in each tent

The tents run on the flip flop. Im a soil SOG grower, but ive been throwing around the idea of trying my hand at hydro for a while now and I really want to pull the trigger on it and giver a try.

My question

Whats the best medium and hydro method for SOG in 4x8 tables?

I want everyone's opinions, experiences, pros and cons, all of it! Im open to anything. Sell me on whats best!

Im leaning towards using 4x4 rockwool cubes with a top feed/drip system. I like that RW retains moisture and if the pumps go down or clog or power goes out or whatever, I still have time to catch it and hand water and the whole crop isnt lost. I like the water retaining properties for security and its a gentle way to ease into hydro.

So would you go ebb and flo with hydroton

Coco

Rockwool and hydroton

Rockwool in 1 gallon pots with hydroton

RW top feed ect

Whats all of your opinions? Help a guy out and show me the hydro SOG way!

I personally like hydroton top feed with 2 gallon smart pots. for a sog setup.
-Reusable, does take a bit of cleaning. might be a drawback due to salt buildup on the smart pots.
-Smart pot acts as a sort of a filter. You will still get solids in the tank.. but not too bad, it will setle out.
-Hard to overwater hydroton. Hydroton does retain some water.. not alot.

My flood times are a bit different, I dont really "flood" I have the pump kick on to drip (at least 5gph) 1 min on 30 min off.

Over time the roots will grow out of the smart pot and into the tray, you will literally see a rootmat build up, so really there is a lot of room for error in case of a power outage and the tray is never really totally dry.

Awesome bro. Thanks for the info. Curious how many 2 gallon smart pots do you run per light?

mandime said:

Awesome bro. Thanks for the info. Curious how many 2 gallon smart pots do you run per light?

Click to expand...

Off the top of my head... I'll have to go visit the greenhouse to verify sizes.

As many as I can fit in a 2X4 tray. 10 per tray, under a 600. I can pull almost 2 oz per light per 5 plants every 2 weeks with a low yield strain like Girl Scout Cookies. I was running a 4x8 under 1kw but I went with smaller trays for walkway purposes. I personally would go 2 600's over a 4x8. 1kw just has too much of a hotspot to deal with I was running 16 plants under the 1kw but I like the 600's better... always seems to be one cola that hogs all the light under a 1kw. I was running 16 in SOG in soil under a 600 but it seemed a bit crowded.

If you're running a digi, like the solis tech, you can split it so you can get coverage with 1040 so 520 x 2. over a 4x8 tray. Id run them bare bulb.. because youre loosing so much with the splitter, but you can get some nice flowers even if you're not running the bulbs at full power.

Just some random thoughts...

I'm probally gonna stick with 2X4 ID trays, its a little more workable for me, easier to keep plants sorted.

Im moving towards the gavita's like the 600/750's since I have more headroom and Im not growing out of a tent.