How clean do Flood and drain clay pebbles need to be?

pegboy said:

This is not really a reply to your specific question but have you considerd rockwool ? Its so much cleaner and easier to work with when used in flood and drain.

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I’m not a fan of the rockwool. I feel it holds too much water and easy to over saturate and have issues. That’s just my opinion since I’ve only used rockwool rooting plugs but didn’t like those either. But I see some great grows using rockwool so I know it works and I have thought about trying the 6x6 blocks with drip feed just haven’t got around to it yet

pegboy said:

This is not really a reply to your specific question but have you considerd rockwool ? Its so much cleaner and easier to work with when used in flood and drain.

Click to expand...

I didn't

Treesomewanted77 said:

I ran 2 small tables off one res and just split the full line with a T and had the drains hooked together as well. It worked well I just went a different way because I was out of height and my table stand took up some space but it was still one of my favorite ways to grow.
I would flood a little lower so you’re not saturating the rooting plug just the stones and you can probably get away with only one flood a day till they spread some roots down into the balls. The plants will tell you when they need a drink they won’t just die if they are thirsty they will droop.

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Using a T to split a single drain line of course! Also to feed! Yes of course haha oh man such obvious things can escape you when it's the first time doing something hey.

I used pH'd water to wet the stones, I thought using nutrients when they're going to be doing noting but evaporating would lead to alot of salt build up. Is that's a good idea or no?

pegboy said:

This is not really a reply to your specific question but have you considerd rockwool ? Its so much cleaner and easier to work with when used in flood and drain.

Click to expand...

I had a few rockwool cubes for clones once and I thought they really held water, like properly saturated unless I took some out. How do you manage the amount of water in them on a flood and drain table? Or is it not a problem?

Thanks for your help.

Duhh said:

I had a few rockwool cubes for clones once and I thought they really held water, like properly saturated unless I took some out. How do you manage the amount of water in them on a flood and drain table? Or is it not a problem?

Thanks for your help.

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I simply flood to a lower level (just a tad over 1/3 of the cube) and let the water wick up the block. Also water a bit less. And then of course flush from the top every one or two weeks.

Duhh said:

I didn't

Using a T to split a single drain line of course! Also to feed! Yes of course haha oh man such obvious things can escape you when it's the first time doing something hey.

I used pH'd water to wet the stones, I thought using nutrients when they're going to be doing noting but evaporating would lead to alot of salt build up. Is that's a good idea or no?

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Yeah it’s fine to just use ph’d water to soak them until you put the plants in the system then add very little nutrients maybe 200-250ppm to keep the plants thriving until they start growing fast then you will slowly keep bumping it up.

pegboy said:

I simply flood to a lower level (just a tad over 1/3 of the cube) and let the water wick up the block. Also water a bit less. And then of course flush from the top every one or two weeks.

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Ahhh so less water, that would be good. No problems with the cubes?

Thanks for your help!

Treesomewanted77 said:

Yeah it’s fine to just use ph’d water to soak them until you put the plants in the system then add very little nutrients maybe 200-250ppm to keep the plants thriving until they start growing fast then you will slowly keep bumping it up.

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The plants have been in the hydroton for about 5 days now, I was putting water around the plug with a turkey baster and then fed the plants once every other day as the plugs were really retaining their feed when surrounded and covered by the clay balls. I also flooded up to about 3 inches of the pots once a day. Today I lifted a pot and looked and there are about 2 inches of roots coming out the bottom of the pots already! Like Holy shit that was fast! they don't look so great on top, they OK but not not fantastic, but man those roots are ready to go, they are thriving underneath. I was and am so surprised at that, pretty amazing. I think I'll go the top feed route as I don't like the idea of all that water upstairs in my house in a plastic tub. The amount of water I have in here now would feed them all by top feed and that's fine.

You guys are awesome thanks for your help!

Duhh said:

Ahhh so less water, that would be good. No problems with the cubes?

Thanks for your help!

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No. But you can overwater. Just have to watch it.

I noticed my plants went through a phase of not really growing much on top but seemed to be concentrating on putting lots of roots down.

A good solid platform for future growth!