How often to water?

I'm growing two plants in a hydroponic grow-box which uses a drip irrigation system to water the plants. The plants are being grown from seed and just sprouted their first leaves a little over a week ago. I've been watering about five times a day thus far; the box stays warm and pretty humid most of the time. Is five times a day too much or not enough? I've read different numbers in a few different places; I was wondering what the Rollitup gurus had to say

I'm also considering changing the setup from drip irrigation to ebb and flow. Would I water more often/less with this different setup?

Seriously? Nobody knows?

id say that 5 times is much too often...
start with twice aday for the first few weeks then move to 3 times a day then hit 4 times aday when you start flowereing...
Im assuming your using rockwool... If using pellets,,,,,,then you should water like every hour and a half...(rockwool is much easier cause of the water retention)

I like the drip compared to the ebb flow....cheaper and easier...

Cool, thank you. I'll adjust my watering schedule and see what happens. And yes, I'm using rockwool with hydroton.

Large plants use more water then small plant, but there are many more variables then size that dictate a plants water consumption. The age of the plant, container size, grow medium, temperature, humidity, and ventilation all contribute to water needs. Change any one of these variables, and the water consumption will change. Good ventilation is essential to promote a free flow of fluids, transpiration, and rapid growth. The healthier a plant, the faster it grows and the more water it needs.

Well said, Major! I think it may be time for a promotion.

Also, since you're using rocks, the dripping through the large particle aggregate makes a small water column, so you need to drip from more spots. The GH waterfarm uses rocks and a drip ring and it drips 24/7.

So for your setup, how big are the containers of rocks, and how are you dripping into them? Anything else you can add about it, you say it's humid, with water dripping the humidity will have to be exhausted, do you have enough fresh air?

My tub is about two and a half feet across, eighteen inches wide, and about five inches deep. It's filled with hydroton, and my plants are in rockwool and mesh pots which sit in the hydroton-filled tub.

As far as fresh air goes... this is all enclosed in a homemade growbox (panda plastic around a chromed department store display shelf and wire rack shelving) with several CFLs, four 40 watt flouros, and a fan to blow on the plants. Because the resivoir is in the growbox and is not completely sealed, some of its water is evaporated by the heat coming from the lights and the fan motor - the fan seems to produce the most heat. This whole unit, in turn, is housed in a walk in closet.

I can control the humidity somewhat by leaving the flap to the growbox open, and/or leaving the closet door open. The weather where I live has already gotten quite warm - 80-90 degrees in the past two weeks - so over the past few days I've had to leave both the flap and the door open so as not to kill my babies. I intended to put together an intake/exhaust system, but the only places around here that sell the fans I need are the local hydroponic gardening centers, and no disrespect to these stores is intended, but they charge way the hell too much for stuff like that. I'm still saving up for the fans. The rest of what I need for my exhaust system is pretty cheap and readily available at many stores here.

So you are going to have heat issues, and that will keep you from having much success growing those 2 plants. You will need to exhaust that box, put a 4-inch hole in the top with an axial fan blowing up, and 2 4-inch holes near the bottom open for intake. That should help that.

As for the dripping, you didn't say how many spots you are dripping from, but with almost 4 sqft of rocks, you will have trouble, because most of the rocks won't be wetted, so roots won't grow there. A bed like that would be better off flooded.


Your next grow, try growing in separate pots of rocks, and drip into them.

HTH