Flood and Drain - roots problem

foliage2018

foliage2018

Well-Known Member
Hello guys,
I need your help. I'm pretty new to hydroponics and need to solve one problem.

6 days ago, I transplanted my clones to Allien flood and drain system. Growing medium is hydroton (5l of hydroton each bucket). Everything was fine, the roots starts to grow outside the net pots but...they started to die from the root tips. It looks like the roots are drying out (getting thinner and brown). The growth of the plant is also stunned. I set the lights for 24/0 period and watering twice a day (hydroton is always wet). Is it even possible they dry out so fast?
EC is 0,7
PH is 5,5-5,8

How fast should be roots growing in flood and drain? And what about the water sitting at the bottom of the pots? Will it cause a root rot when it gets warm?
 
Last edited:
Fender Guitar

Fender Guitar

Well-Known Member
foliage2018 said:
Hello guys,
I need your help. I'm pretty new to hydroponics and need to solve one problem.

6 days ago, I transplanted my clones to Allien flood and drain system. Growing medium is hydroton (5l of hydroton each bucket). Everything was fine, the roots starts to grow outside the net pots but...they started to die from the root tips. It looks like the roots are drying out (getting thinner and brown). The growth of the plant is also stunned. I set the lights for 24/0 period and watering twice a day (hydroton is always wet). Is it even possible they dry out so fast?
EC is 0,7
PH is 5,5-5,8

How fast should be roots growing in flood and drain? And what about the watter sitting at the bottom of the pots? Will it cause a root rot when it gets warm?
Click to expand...
Sounds .like root rot. make sure the nutrient solution is being aerated by air stones at all times to avoid rot. hydroton must be watered several times a day because they hold water poorly.
 
70's natureboy

70's natureboy

Well-Known Member
I water my flood table every 2 hours. That's about how long it takes the tray and the roots to start drying out. Your tray and roots must get really dry flooding only twice a day.

Oh yeah, you're supposed to use net pots on a flood table. Some people use buckets and flower pots but your roots don't get as much air that way.
 
foliage2018

foliage2018

Well-Known Member
I was so much worried about overwatering that i underwatered them (most probably). I was confused bcs there were no other signs of underwatering (droopy leaves, etc.). I set the timer to start cycle every 3h and will wait what it developes.
 
foliage2018

foliage2018

Well-Known Member
Update: everything looks fine for now. I set the timer to 2h cycle (every flooding takes about 30min from start to end). But those roots grow a bit slower and therefore the plant is not developing as fast as I would like.

Q: Why? Is there any possibility how to make those roots grow faster in flood and drain (bucket system)?

Could be the low humidity that factor? I read that dry conditions in the grow room affect how the plant transpire a water from roots to leaves. The more water they need to transpire, the bigger they grow...or am i wrong? What about lights? Do they affect how roots grow in size?
 
foliage2018

foliage2018

Well-Known Member
Update: switched light period from 24/0 to 18/6...cause there are lots of opinions if they actually need dark part of the day. Some say nope, some say they don't need it, but it's recommended because the plant focus on making the "anchor". And bigger the "anchor", the bigger the plant.

And this is my first time I tried the 24/0 period and it doesn't work as well as previously used 18/6.
 
70's natureboy

70's natureboy

Well-Known Member
You don't really need to flood for 30 minutes. Just until the tray fills up. with my super slow pump I only run it 3 minutes to fill the tray. Good luck.
 
foliage2018

foliage2018

Well-Known Member
70's natureboy said:
You don't really need to flood for 30 minutes. Just until the tray fills up. with my super slow pump I only run it 3 minutes to fill the tray. Good luck.
Click to expand...
I don't really want to. But that Alien hydroponics system works like that. Filling 300l of water to 60 buckets using 2000l/h pump. Filling takes about 12min, draining takes about 17min. I think that it is better for cooling down the root bound . If the water is properly aerated and cooled, then the roots should have enough oxygen.

I could buy new pumps maybe - min 4000l/h.
 
D

DangerDavez

Well-Known Member
The general idea is that you want to flood, wait til the look more or less dry (no drops of water on em) and then flood again. If you really want to kickstart the roots then maybe an HPA cloner could get em going quicker.
 
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